A self-expanding stent formed of stainless steel wire arranged in a closed zig-zag configuration includes an endless series of straight sections joined at their ends by bends. The stent is compressible into a reduced diameter size for insertion into and removal from a body passageway. The bends of a ...

A bioplar sphinctertome for use in endoscopic retrograde sphincterotomy procedures includes an elongated, flexible, plastic tube having either a single or a double lumen and includes a segment near its distal end which is both flexible and conductive. This segment is connected by a wire extending th ...

A transaction terminal for use with diverse credit or other transaction cards is provided with an interface unit for receiving a plurality of modules, wherein each module contains programming information corresponding to transactions that may be carried out with at least one of the diverse identific ...

A plurality of electronically reconfigurable gate array (ERCGA) logic chips are interconnected via a reconfigurable interconnect, and electronic representations of large digital networks are converted to take temporary actual operating hardware form on the interconnected chips. The reconfigurable in ...

A blood sampling mechanism including a housing in which is inserted a magazine containing a plurality of test pads from which individual test pads are sequentially fed to a loading/testing station, each novel test pad being relatively thin and carrying a resilient dermis-piercing member having a poi ...

An improved electrocautery method and instrument includes interlock features which enable the instrument to be safely operated under convenient manual controls including a slide element and control buttons and interlock switch positioned on the instrument.

A tactile aid for deaf individuals includes a conveniently wearable array of vibration transducers mounted on a flexible carrier strip so as to be positionally biased toward the individuals's skin. Each transducer includes an enclosed magnetically vibratable cantilevered beam, an angled mounting slo ...

Television programs are broadcast to a plurality of receiver units in various geographic areas. Each unit has a memory for storage of a designation code representative of its location and a memory for the storage of a blackout tier indication. Prior to the transmission of the program to be blacked o ...